Page 34 of The Masks We Wear

I push him, “Fuck. You.”

He catches me completely off guard as he slides my silk shorts down my thighs along with my panties and tosses them somewhere on the floor around the bed. I realize I’m completely bare and on display for him while he’s still fully clothed. He grabs both of my thighs and pushes them open and when he takes in the sight of me practically dripping for him, he smirks cockily and grins at me, looking up through a devilish expression, “You can pretend to hate me all you want but we both know it’s a lie.”

Before I can snap back with a witty response, he drops down until his mouth covers my pussy. The gasp that escapes me at the feeling of his warm mouth and his tongue on my clit surprises even me. His fingers dig into both of my thighs in a bruising grip, and I can’t bring myself to care, in pure bliss over the way he makes me feel.

He looks up at me to catch my reaction to him and pleased by whatever he sees on my face, he pushes two fingers inside of me and moves them in time with the lapping on my clit. “Do you like when I eat your pussy while my fingers are inside you, Little Rockstar?” He asks the filthiest of questions.

I nod, too overtaken by ecstasy to snap at him. “Yes.”

“Good girl,” he growls, pleased with my lack of attitude and smart comments.

He continues licking, sucking, and fingering, his hands moving up to cup my breasts and pinch my nipples and before I know it, I feel the familiar warmth pooling low in my belly and heat spreading from the bundle of nerves between my legs, up my body. My body starts to tremble beneath him as my orgasm reaches its peak. “You remember the rules. Ask nicely and I’ll let you come on my tongue.”

I squeeze my eyes shut at the loss of his mouth on my clit. The warmth starts to fade and I beg, desperately, “Please letme come.” Only Harvey can make me beg and plead and it’s infuriating. I’d never beg a man for anything, but Harvey seems to be the only outlier in a sea full of men.

Pleased with my obedience, he lowers his head and works me and the fading sense of warmth comes back in full swing. I cry out as it reaches me and fist the bed sheets. Just when I think I’ve had enough, his fingers curl around my g-spot and another cry tears from my throat as my orgasm finds me and I come on his tongue and fingers.

When the waves of my orgasm have finally finished rolling through me, Harvey withdraws his fingers and sucks them clean the same way he did in the studio. I reach for the hem of his sweatpants, needing more of him but he stops me by grabbing my hands. “We can’t go there,” he protests and the detached look that he had before leaving the studio comes back to his face.

I sit up, completely frustrated. “What?” I snap.

He avoids my eye, “Brody, we can’t go that far,” he leaves no room for argument.

I guess it’s a good thing I love to argue. “So let me get this straight, you can finger fuck me on two occasions and eat me out but we can’t have sex?”

He sighs and frowns, “If we cross that line, we both know we’ll never stop. We talked about this, my job and reputation are at stake here.”

I snort a laugh in pure sarcasm. “You’re unbelievable,” I push away from him and gather my clothes from the floor. When I reluctantly turn to face him, he hasn’t moved from the foot of the bed. He just watched me with a distant expression, the same way he looked at me when he ignored me for days after our last encounter. “So now what? Are you gonna ignore me and treat me like I don’t exist again for a few days until we make another truce and then violate the truce?” I put my clothes back on andavoid looking at him. “Because if that’s what you think is gonna happen, you’re dead wrong. I’m not gonna be a toy you play with and then throw away when you’re done playing.” The hurt in my voice must force the reaction from him.

He rises from the foot of the bed and hovers over me. “Do you have any idea what’s on the line for me? The consequences of getting caught are worse for me than they are for you. My reputation and my job are on the line. Selene could terminate my contract. If you get caught, she’ll probably just yell at you a few times and then let you go back to doing whatever it is you do but you’ll have a new person watching you, living with you, and drug testing you.”

“If you’re so worried about consequences, why did you do it again?” I snap, raising my voice.

He sighs, rubbing the spot between his eyes. “Because I can’t control myself around you, Brody. We both know it.”

I flare my nostrils, “I don’t know what to tell you. I may have kissed you tonight, but you started it last time and then you finished it tonight.

“I know,” he says, irritated. “But if Selene finds out-”

“She won’t find out. I haven’t told anyone and I’m not going to,” I cut him off.

We both pause and wait for the other to speak. A full minute must pass before he lowers his voice and lets his guard down in a way I’ve never seen from him. He looks truly disappointed and defeated. “This won’t happen again, Brody. I know I said it last time and then tonight happened, but I mean it this time. I won’t touch you again and that’s final. I’ll keep myself under control and keep this strictly professional from now on.”

I scoff and he walks towards the door. He places a hand on it to open it but hesitates, “I’m not trying to play games with you or treat you like a toy. My job is important to me and I don’t want to risk losing it or hurting my reputation. Tonight wasanother lapse in judgment, and it was another mistake. You and I aren’t supposed to exist in each other’s worlds, it’s best for both of us if we remember that and go our separate ways once our time together is over in another month and a half.” His voice comes out low before he opens the door and leaves me standing there alone and hurt for the second time.

Chapter 17

Brody

“Okay, B, try itagain, it didn’t sound that good,” Aria speaks into the recording booth. Her and Ivory sit on the other side of the glass, recording my vocals. Our usual process involves me coming up with the base beats, Aria and Ivory building on that with Aria’s guitar and Ivory’s bass, and then Aria and Ivory writing vocals, and then me recording said vocals. Usually, I don’t have to record more than five times max. Today is different however, because Aria and Ivory must be playing some kind of sick prank on me. This is thetenthtime I’ve recorded the first verse.

I ball my hands into fists at my side as my nostrils flare and my brows pull together, “That’s bullshit! It sounded fine that time. You guys are fucking with me,” I argue, screaming at them from inside the booth. My voice comes out louder than usual because of these damn noise canceling headphones. Everything about today is annoying me. We’re in Texas now and just had the second show of the tour last night. We have two more days here to work in the studio Selene rented and I don’t know if it’s my lingering irritation and anger towards Harvey that has me so on edge or if it’s my stress from being on this tour, but I’m not having any of this today.

Since you’ve asked so nicely, I’ll let you know that Harvey has gone right back to ignoring me the same way he did after our stint in the studio at my house. If you ask me, this is bullshit. He’s obviously attracted to me if he lost control twice, right? I mean, he put his job and reputation on the line to make mecome twice, that has to mean something. I wouldn’t know if it does because he won’t even look at me. He just follows me around silently and refuses to make eye contact with me. The bastard has made me so insecure about myself for the second time now and he’s humiliated me for the second time. There will be no third time. Harvey Taylor will never ever humiliate or embarrass me ever again because I simply will not let him. I refuse.

Aria tries to keep her expression neutral, but I can see the wicked smile forming on her lips. “One more time, come on. You’re almost there.” Bitch.

“Aria, I swear to God this is the last time I’m recording this fucking verse and if you have the balls to tell me it doesn’t sound good when we both know it does, I’m gonna come out there and smash that fucking guitar,” I threaten her, my voice darkening.

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